What awaits us at Baltictech 2017? - About technical diver training, rebreathers and rescue

The Baltictech 2017 conference is fast approaching and the excitement is growing. What exactly will be waiting for us at the thresholds of the Science and Technology Park in Gdynia on the weekend of 25-26 November? This question arises repeatedly, so we decided to prepare an answer to it. We hope that our mini-cycle presenting the invited speakers and the topics they discuss will help you plan your time at the conference better and more efficiently!

Today’s baltictech announcements are very training and very technical. We will meet instructor divers and businessmen divers. They share a passion, of course, but also a particular liking for technical diving. Bruce Partridge – the founder of Shearwater Research as we know it, Phil Short – a distinguished instructor and explorer, Paul Toomer – a versatile technical diver, instructor and entrepreneur, and Roman Virt – a researcher and advocate of open circuits in technical diving.

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Bruce Partridge is the founder of Shearwater Research, a Canadian dive computer company. A professional software architect as well as a versatile scientific mind. He didn’t take up diving until after his retirement. His new hobby became a passion when closed-loop circuits came on the market.

Bruce began researching the design of popular rebuses and their software. His company Shearwater Research was formed to develop a closed loop oxygen controller. In response to customer demand, dive computers were also designed and started to be manufactured. Shearwater now sells these to technical and recreational divers in 70 countries, making it a major player in the world of dive computers.

Bruce at Baltictech 2017 will present the history of Shearwater from its beginnings until now. He will also tell us about the beginnings of rebreather experimentation: CCR 2000, Draeger Dolphin and KISS, through the lens of EN 14143 certification to today’s rebreather systems.

Paul Vincent Toomer only discovered diving in the cold waters of southern England, although before that he happened to live for 23 years in South Africa. He is now a keen wreck and cave diver. He dives with a rebreather and also in a sidemount configuration. He is an instructor and instructor trainer for PADI, IANTD, TDI, SSI. He is currently working with the new RAID organisation.

In 2007, he decided to focus solely on technical diver training and expeditions. He founded the company Diving Matrix Tec Lab, which deals with advanced diving training and the organisation of professional diving trips, including to Malta, Mexico, South Africa and Sardinia. The company has a direct training relationship with RAID. Paul was also one of the first to start organising training on the Poseidon MKIV.

Paul is currently co-owner of training agency RAID International and Diver Training Prior.

His extensive CV on CRR includes: Sub-Gravity, xCCR, Sentinel, JJ and Poseidon MKVI.

He regularly contributes to various dive magazines and is a frequent guest at the biggest dive events in the world.

At Baltictech he will tell us about rescue in practice.

Phil Short is one of Europe’s leading technical diving instructors. He runs his own company, specialising in advanced training for divers at all levels.

He has been diving professionally for over twenty years, during which time he has logged six thousand dives and over three thousand hours in a closed circuit. When he is not training or testing equipment, he organises expeditions to remote, inaccessible parts of the world, such as eastern Russia.

Currently Phil is also a consultant for manufacturers such as VR Technology Ltd and Fourth Element. He is also the Training Director for the IANTD UK organisation.

He will be giving two talks at Baltictech 2017. The first is about a joint project with the United States National Park Service, Lund University Sweden and the crew of the US DPAA Tulsamerican B24. The second will be about a summary of this year’s work on the Antikythera wreck.

Roman Virt – Czech, graduate of the Maritime University in Szczecin. He has been involved in technical diving since 1997. In his professional life, he has trained many technical divers and dozens of diving instructors. He is also the author of several publications and manuals. Apart from diving, he works in the military industry, where he is engaged in research in the field of ballistic and explosion protection.

Roman at the conference will introduce us to the differences between closed and open circuit diving. Is closed really more “pro”? What are the real limits of OC and CCR diving? What is myth and what is truth?

All information can also be found on the official conference website baltictech.com